The end of the year in southern Costa Rica turns a little devilish. This is when the indigenous Boruca community celebrates their ancestral “Fiesta de los Diablitos”, or the Festival… Read more » Continue reading →
The end of the year in southern Costa Rica turns a little devilish.
This is when the indigenous Boruca community celebrates their ancestral Fiesta de los Diablitos”, or the Festival of Little Devils, a four-day annual event happening from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2. 
The end-of-the-year festival takes place in the village of Boruca on the tribes indigenous reservation in the Talamanca Mountains, 25 km inland from Palmar Norte near the town of Buenos Aires.
Costa Ricas indigenous tribes were relatively small compared to the empires of the Mayan, Aztec or Inka peoples. Most indigenous communities lived on simple subsistence farming and hunting, and were ruled by a chief called a cacique. The decimation of the indigenous peoples in Costa Rica was due mostly to diseases, rather than targeted genocide as happened in other Latin American countries.
The people of Boruca consider themselves never to have been conquered since they keep their rich ancestral traditions alive, expressed through their language, legends, dance and crafts. The Borucas are particularly famous for their colorful, hand-carved masks made from lightweight balsa wood.
These masks play an integral part in the Fiesta de los Diablitos, which celebrates the Borucas victory over the Spanish conquistadors. Village men dress up as ancestral spirits using traditional balsa wood masks of devil faces, and elaborate costumes made from cloth sacks and banana leaves. One 
man takes the role of a mock bull, representing the evil Spanish intruders. Only Boruca men who have carved their own mask may participate. Women are not permitted to play a role in the main ritual, but are an integral part of the festival’s organization, making food and drink to sustain the male participants.
During the four-day festival, the bull and the diablitos perform a long, ritual dance with mock fighting around a bonfire, known as the Dance of the Diablitos. The participants drink lots of home-made chicha, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented corn that is drunk from a hollowed-out gourd. While at times it appears that the bull might win, on the last day, the diablitos finally triumph over the Spanish just as they did historically. The bull is killed the costume is burned on the large bonfire in the middle of the village and much celebration follows.
A fantastic collection of images from the Fiesta de los Diablitos can be found on this Facebook page by travel writer and photographer, James Kaiser.
Attending the Fiesta de los Diablitos in Boruca is an easy and excellent day trip from Portasol Rainforest & Oceanview Living. The sustainable residential and vacation lodging community is located approximately 90 minutes from the indigenous village of Boruca. Manuel Antonio National Park is 30 km north and the renowned surfing beach of Dominical is 20 km south.
Article by Shannon Farley
Shannon Farley writes English-language blogs and handles social media marketing for Enchanting Costa Rica and Profimercadeo in San Jose, Costa Rica.